a/n: day four. for sara. title from taylor swift. a pairing i haven't written in a long time, so please forgive me if i'm rusty.

everything has changed

loki/jane

"You know, if I had known that you would be getting married before me, I might've taken my ex up on his offer." Jane quipped, trying to pull the fabric of a trial bridesmaid's dress over her hips. The shade of purple wasn't the best best with her skin tone, but knowing Darcy, she probably knew that also.

"Oh please, like Jane Foster, the most independent woman on the planet, would ever stoop so low as to limit herself with marriage." Darcy snarked back from the other side of the curtain. "And could you hurry the hell up? It's not like you have to escape a straight jacket."

Jane rolled her eyes at Darcy's snappy anxiety though she could understand the frustration. Marriage was no small feat for anyone, let alone the ever-cynical Darcy.

"So, has Fandral set a best man yet? I know he and Thor had a falling out." Jane asked cautiously, walking out of the changing room.

Thor was not known for his calm and cool temperament, nor was it any secret that Fandral was unhappy with the way Thor had treated Sif, who was everyone's favorite girl. It was like watching a daytime soap opera everyday without the commercials.

"Uh, yeah. Loki agreed to do it." Darcy mumbled, examining her best friend like some sort of dissected frog in a biology class.

"Loki? As in Thor's wayward brother?" Jane asked, half laughing, half horrified at how fast the drama had just been dialed up.

"But I thought he was off living in England or something." She stated while Darcy pushed her back into the changing room, this time with a blue dress in hand.

"Yeah, well, Fandral guessed he was the one who would piss Thor off most." The guilt in the other woman's voice made Jane sure that Darcy wasn't excited at the prospect of several broken noses making an appearance on the supposed happiest day of her life.

"Look, Jane, I was hoping that you and Loki could make a toast at the reception together."

Jane groaned at the thought of public speaking, considering the chances of her making out of it without messing everything up were close to zero.

"And I know the face you're making in there and it isn't attractive. Just... think about it, okay? I'd like something nice to happen that day."

The sadness in the voice on the other side of the curtain was enough to make Jane cave. She hated when Darcy whined, so she decided to suck it up and put on her big girl panties. She would go through with this speech no matter how difficult Loki might be. Her best friend deserved something to go right and she'd dealt with bad boys before.

When Darcy and Fandral had begun seeing each other it hadn't exactly seemed like a love made to last. Fandral was a notorious playboy and Darcy was more than a little skeptical of her boyfriend's every move. Naturally, being a man of money and dramatics, Fandral had proposed in the middle of Darcy's birthday party. The betting pool on the chances of surviving the wedding planning began right then and there. Of course, things had been a lot easier when Thor and Sif were still an item and dead on to be in the wedding, but then Thor decided he liked blonds more than brunettes and everything had fallen apart. Now it was up to Jane to do damage control and she was less than thrilled about the prospect of all the wealthy kids ruining Darcy's big day over something stupid.

–

She paced the floor in her green high heels with unease, the matching bridesmaids' dresses were a very interesting shade of green, thanks to the bride's rather eccentric tastes and last minute changes.

Jane thought that perhaps this was what having a heart attack felt like as she rushed around, trying to make sure everyone was ready for the rehearsal dinner, especially since Loki was going to cause enough chaos by just beingthere. She glanced at her watch again and sighed, leaning her forehead against the cool stone wall.

"Ah, trouble in paradise?" A smooth voice came from near her left shoulder and she looked around in interest. She would look back on that moment and wonder if that one look was what ended up changing her entire life.

Loki was not what she had expected, considering all she knew was he lived in England and never spoke to his family. He'd been a troubled teenager, as most adopted kids had the tendency to be, but the man that stood before her was cool and refined. His raven hair was pulled back into a small ponytail, and his black tux clung to his slender frame, the green vest and tie matched his eyes perfectly and Jane wondered for a fleeting second if he was some sort of supernatural being.

"You must be Jane. Fandral told me you were the maid of honor." He said, stepping around her as she stood up straight, extending a hand to him.

His palm encompassed hers and she felt the irrational desire to giggle, but fought against that thought and instead nodded, taking a step back towards the church doors. Loki followed her, listening as she explained the schedule of events for the following week.

"I'm sorry you've had to face my brother and his friends on your own, they can be very, er, challenging, sometimes." Loki smiled over at her and Jane was quite sure that breathing didn't really matter anymore.

"I'm used to it. I had a lot of cousins growing up." She shrugged, "They needed a firm hand and I got fairly good at dealing one." She didn't notice the way Loki's eyes followed her, almost as though he had never really seen a woman before.

"What is he doing here?!" A thunderous yell came from the end of the hall and Jane winced, looking up to see Thor, his face murderous as he stared down at his brother.

"I am here to take up my position of best man, brother." Loki spoke, his expression was void of emotion and his tone quite tranquil. Jane decided that they would need an open bar to survive the night.

"Like hell you are!" Thor yelled, stepping towards his brother menacingly. Jane felt that Loki was very sure of himself, considering he was still standing his ground, though Thor was obviously a threat physically.

"We are not going to fight here, Thor." Loki voiced casually, with the slightest trace of a sigh in his tone. Fandral had finally shown up to his own rehearsal dinner and with one look at the two squaring off in the center of the room started running over.

Fandral grabbed his friend's shoulder, "Just walk away, old friend, this is my wedding."

Thor, however, had other plans and turned towards the man gripping his arm and sank his fist square into Fandral's face. Loki leapt into action so quickly Jane hadn't seen him move, but soon he was restraining the blond man and pushing him back.

"You!" Thor spoke vehemently, pointing over at Jane with contempt, "You organized this didn't you?" He yelled, "You were so jealous of all of us that you couldn't stand it!" He might as well have just slapped Jane in the face for the impact his words had.

"I told Fandral not to mix with you and Darcy-" He started, but Loki raised his arm and brought his hand down on a nerve in Thor's neck and he became nothing more than an unconscious lump on the floor. Jane sucked in a ragged breath, looking up at her savior, trying to thank him but all that came out was a sob.

Jane hated crying in front of anyone, so instead she turned on her heel and marched out of the building and into the cool night. She was so angry at all of them for being so stupid all the time, because all she was trying to do was help. She'd known that Darcy was making a mistake marrying Fandral and all the soap opera baggage that went with him.

She sat forcefully down on a bench, glancing around in the early darkness, trying to calm herself down. Darcy was going to have a fit when she heard that Fandral would probably have a black eye at the wedding. She dropped her face into her cool hands, beginning to rub circles into her temples. It felt like she had a permanent headache these days.

"A lot of excitement for one evening." Loki's British accent permeated her mind and she watched as he sat down next to her, an expression of tiredness lining his own features.

And though she did not know him at all, when he sat next to her all she could feel was comfort.

He gave her his number before standing again, "It was lovely to meet you, Miss Foster."

Her mouth didn't catch up with her brain until he'd already begun to walk away, but Jane smiled in spite of herself at his retreating form.

–

Jane's phone went off around three a.m., and her hand on the nightstand managed to knock over her lamp, a bottle of water, and a stack of science magazines before she found the object she was searching blindly for.

"Hello?" She said with slurred speech.

"Jane!" Darcy yelled in response, and Jane winced at the volume.

"Darcy, if you need a D.D. you can call someone else, because I think I've earned a get out of jail free card for the rest of-"

"I don't know what's gotten your panties in a wad, but I'm trying to fulfil my best friend duties by calling to say that I just got married!" Darcy squealed into her reciever and Jane didn't have time to do anything but drop her phone.

She rushed out of bed to dial Darcy again, and she didn't even wait for a greeting before hissing, "What are you talking about Darce? If this another prank, I swear to god I will glue your underwear to your-"

"Miss Foster, I believe you're yelling at the wrong person," Came a smooth voice, and Jane thought about that high school dance where she spilled punch all over her date and decided this was definitely more embarrassing.

"Loki! I'm so sorry, uh, I'll just let you... goodnight." She mumbled awkwardly into the phone and hit 'end' before he could say anything else.

Darcy didn't answer any of Jane's fifteen phonecalls or ten text messages, all increasingly hostile. By five a.m. she fell back asleep, hoping her best friend hadn't been kidnapped.

Her phone vibrated again at 10 a.m., an unfamiliar number illuminated on the screen, and Jane incoherently answered, trying to wipe the drool from her cheek.

"Ah, perhaps I should call back when you are more awake?" Loki's calm tone caused Jane to blush.

"No, no! I'm awake, I just needed a second." She said, yawning unattractively into her hand.

"Sorry to wake you, though I suppose this does seem like a befitting payback." Was he... was he actually joking?

"Oh, yeah, I am so, so sorry about that," Jane started, only to be cut off.

"Mistakes are quite common, Miss Foster," He said quickly. "I'm calling because I recieved a call from Fandral this morning. He and Miss Lewis eloped last night to Las Vegas."

"Classy." Jane snorted, but her brain finally caught up with her mouth and she groaned. "So I spent all that money on a tacky dress I'll never be able to wear. Awesome."

To her surprise, a chuckle came in from the other end. "Yes, though I suppose that's a better fate than buying a plane ticket to America and taking a week off work."

Jane's stomach flipped, "Well, I guess we could commiserate together, I know a great Thai place."

"Anything that isn't an American cheeseburger sounds wonderful, actually." He replied and after Jane gave him the address and a time, he hung up, leaving her to wonder what the hell just happened.

I'm going to kill you when you get home. Oh and congrats, I hope Fandral's eye isn't too black today. -Love, Jane. Her fingers typed out on the way to meet Loki. She hit send and pulled open the door to the familiar Thai place.

Loki was many things, but at the top of the list would be "scarily punctual." Jane spotted him at a booth, and she was at least ten minutes early.

"Miss Foster-"

"Call me, Jane. I think we've officially reached first name basis," She laughed a little awkwardly.

For some reason, under Loki's gaze, she felt like blushing. He was very handsome, all angles and cheekbones, and not to mention rich, but in his leather jacket and jeans, you'd never tell he was a successful British CEO.

"Yes, I feel that when two people are symbolically left at the altar together they do share a bond." He smiled over the menu.

"It's such a Darcy thing, to make me do all this work and then she finds the easy way out." Jane smirked back, "Though I cannot say I'm heartbroken over not seeing Thor."

"I doubt many people are." Loki quipped in response. He lifted his beer to tap hers, "To Fandral and Darcy."

"And their very likely imminent deaths," Jane laughed.

They stumbled out of the restaurant with full stomachs and a pleasant buzz. Jane looked up to Loki, surprised to see his dark hair had fallen out of the band he'd used to pull it back with earlier.

"It was worth it, y'know? The wedding trainwreck." Jane said, "I did get to meet you after all. Can you imagine me walking down the aisle next to Thor? There would be blood on the roses before we were in sight of the first pew."

"I'd imagine that would make the papers at least. Mother would be so proud." He grinned a little, "But things change, sometimes for the better."

They stop in the middle of the sidewalk, with Jane squinting up at him. His long fingers went to pull his hair back again, but she threw her hand up.

"No, it, uh, it looks really good." She said lamely, hand still around his wrist.

"Well, who am I to deny a beautiful woman what she wants?" He smirked, placing the band into his pocket.

And then Jane did something so not Jane-like by pulling herself up to his lips and kissing him soundly. He leaned into her mouth easily, and they stood like that for what could have been hours.

"Things change," Jane whispered after they've pulled apart.

Instead of responding, Loki pushed his lips against hers again.

In her pocket her phone vibrated.

i look forward 2 my untimely demise. and thx, maybe u can give loki a tour around the city. he's prob uber bored. can't wait for u 2 see the elvis outfit fandral wore. love u! -darce

Jane saved the message to put in a wedding album sometime down the road.